Chat Room Saftey and Online Predators Maria Dobos

Chat Room Saftey:
Questions to Ask Your Children About Their Digital Life

Loftis, Tony. "5 More Questions to Ask Your Kids About Their Digital Life." Huffington Post. 28 02 2013: n. page. Print. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tony-loftis/kids-and-technology_b_2780290.html.

           This article gave helpful questions for parents to ask themselves and their children about their child's online experiences. As a parent who may not be aware of all the different things children can expose themselves to, this article helps parents make sure their child is being safe.

Questions to ask your children to get an idea of what they are doing online:

• Are you involved in any multi player online games?
• How do you choose the people you play these online games with?
• Who do you text most, and when?
• Do you send a lot of picture messages?
• Have you ever met someone in person that you first met online?

This article was writting by a Huffington Post writer, who is also President and exectutive director of Missing Your Child, a website and useful resoruce to help parents learn how to use social media to find a lost child. With over 30% of children admitted to meeting someone they met online, and that number continuing to rise, parents should take action to make sure their child is being safe.

I think this is a great article for parents to read because most parents do not monitor their child's online activity, and they should. This article was written to give parents tools find out exactly what their child is using the internet for. Chat rooms are one of the easiest ways to meet new people, and can easily escalade into a very deep relationship, which could be life threateing to your child.

"The Reality of Online Predators." Youtube. keep your family safe, . web. 5 Mar 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZUx11jSeW4>.


           This video is an inverview with a Police Officer who dealt with online preditors, and trying to find them. If parents saw this video, they would realize how common it is for young kids to be dargated on a daily basis by online preditors. Because this information came directly from someone who has dealt with online preditors first hand, people are more willing to listen to the message. Parents need to realize how serious online preditors and chat rooms are. I think this video is a great addition to the article because it first gets parents informed about the risks, and the articles helps parents understand what their child is really doing online.